School Board seeks to fill vacant seat: A call for candidates for appointment

The Shelter Island School District’s Board of Education is seeking to fill a vacant seat by interviewing candidates and then voting on an appointment to the Board.

Molly Kendall was elected to the Board by the public and began her tenure on July 1, 2025. She resigned on Aug. 26, 2026. According to School District Clerk Jacki Dunning, Ms. Kendall “did not state a reason why she was resigning.” 

At the Oct. 14 Board meeting, President Kathleen Lynch discussed with the other members present — Margaret Colligan, Dawn Hedberg, Karina Montalvo and Laurene Silvani — whether to seek to appoint someone or wait until the next election in May 2027 to fill the seat A consensus was reached and it was decided the best option for the Board is to have full membership as soon as possible. The Board will put out a request for candidates to be interviewed for the position, which is due to end on May 18, 2027.

According to Ms. Dunning, to reach candidates to be interviewed, “We are using social media, the digital sign outside school, email blast to parents, and hopefully the website.”  The District has laid out qualifications for membership on the Board. Individuals must be:

• Able to read and write

• A qualified voter in the District; that is a citizen of the United States at least 18 or older

• Be and have been a resident (but need not be a tax payer) of the District for a continuous and uninterrupted period of at least one year immediately before the appointment

• May not have been removed from any school district office within the preceding year

• May not be a current employee of the School Board

• May not simultaneously hold another incompatible public office 

Candidates interested in applying should contact Ms. Dunning at [email protected], or Jacqueline Dunning, District Clerk, Shelter Island Free School District, P.O. Box 2015, Shelter Island, NY 11964.

Accountant Report

Christopher Angotta, of Hauppauge-based Nawrocki Smith, external auditors for the District, gave a report for the School Board’s approval, which granted it unanimously. In his report Mr. Angotta noted that there were:

• Total assets and deferred outflows of $20.9 million (capital assets of $8.1 million)

• Total liabilities and deferred inflows of $37.8 million

• Net deficit of $16.9 million (primarily caused by recognition of $25.7 million retiree health benefit obligation)

• Total revenues of $13.0 million and total expenses of $12.3 million

• Increase in net position of approximately $701,000

• General Fund fund balance of $1.8 million of which $1.0 million is restricted (unemployment, retirement, employee benefit accrued liability capital improvements and repairs), $234,000 is assigned funds, and $526,000 is unassigned (within the NYS legal limit)

Statement of revenues, expenditures and changes in fund balance:

• Negative change in fund balance of $140,000 in General Fund

• No material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in internal control

Heading west

The Shelter Island High School Class of 2027 is westward bound in June. That’s if enough money is raised. 

Class President Jackson Rohrer gave a presentation to the Board, noting that 15 members of the class and three or four teacher-chaperones are all in for the journey scheduled for June 1-8 to Yosemite National Park and Lake Tahoe with a stopover in San Francisco. There will be camping and hotel and Airbnb stops. Jackson noted that half the class had never been on an airplane or to the west coast.

There is currently a class balance of $19,000, he added, that has been fundraised over the past six years. The class has estimated that close to $20,000 will be allocated for travel — airfare and renting vans —and housing. Activities could cost up to $15,00, including an “environmental hike” though Yosemite, a fishing clinic, a tour of Alcatraz and a San Francisco cooking class.

The activity budget will depend on the amount granted by the Shelter Island Educational Foundation. Contingency plans are to raise funds at a golf outing in the spring. “If we exceed our fundraising goal, we plan to share the proceeds with the junior class for the prom,“ Jackson said. 

The school has all camping equipment necessary for the trip. Jackson wanted to make clear that the District does not provide funding for transportation, housing, food, activities, or any other trip related expenses. The only cost to the District is chaperone payroll.

Camping Out

The Board approved the annual National Honor Society Cardboard Campout to take place the night and through the wee hours of Nov. 10-11. The honor students — and any student who wants to join — camps out in cardboard boxes on school grounds to raise funds for Habitat For Humanity. The group also later, usually in the spring, goes to a Habitat building site and pitches in with construction.

And a Tuba

Chorus Teacher Katie Springer told the Board that Shelter Island Friends of Music had donated a electronic keyboard, a Yamaha Clavinova digital piano, which has many advantages, including, Ms. Springer said, it never has to be tuned. The Friends of Music also gave the school a tuba, and Ms. Springer thanked the group’s members for their generosity.